2024 Report
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2024 HAWKESBURY CLASSIC PADDLE
Another huge success
THANK YOU ALL !!
The 45th Hawkesbury Classic Paddle was held over the weekend with 107 paddlers taking part.
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The reason why we do it
The Classic is a charity fundraising event conducted by the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic Association Inc. whose only reason for existence is to conduct the Classic and in so doing, raise funds for medically based charities.
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Once again, it was a magical weekend on the Hawkesbury and the event was a fantastic success. Conditions on the river, overnight Saturday, were excellent, albeit that it was a little dark in some sections of the river. How lucky are we Sydneysiders to have such a magnificent river in our backyard !!
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The event was conducted under Aquatic Licence AQL36826 issued by Transport for New South Wales.
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This year we had paddlers came from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Mike Kellog from the US.
At the pre-paddle briefing paddlers and supporters were inspired to hear from two fantastic young people in 24 year old Dylan Littlehales (Paralympic Silver Medallist) and Ritika Saxena, the 29 year old Research Scientist who was the recipient of an Arrow / Hawkesbury Classic PhD Scholarship and is now part of a team at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute that recently made a global breakthrough in the field of stem-cell research.
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Paddlers and their supporters this year have raised $55,000.00 for the Arrow Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation and, in so doing, have added to the already staggering $4.5 million raised by past Classics over a 30-year period. Even though our fundraising this year is lower than normal it will go a long way to supporting future PhD Scholars and patients suffering from diseases treatable with Bone Marrow or Stem-Cell transplants.
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The paddlers
The fastest male paddlers down the river was Trent Martin, from Central Coast Ocean Paddlers in 8 hrs 48 mins 29 seconds with Jason Ware from Penrith close behind in 8 hrs 53 mins.
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The fastest woman was Lane Cove River Kayakers paddler, Naomi Johnson, with a time of 9 hrs 39 mins 10 seconds.
In the non-competitive Brooklyn or Bust category, Gene Burns and Jason Morton recorded a great time of 8 hrs 54 mins 44 seconds.
The final finisher had an elapsed time of 17 hrs 20 minutes.
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The volunteers
The event is supported by an amazing 300 volunteers who give up their weekend for paddlers to challenge their mental and physical strength to take on the mighty Hawkesbury River.
NSW State Emergency Service, Marine Rescue NSW (Hawkesbury), WICEN NSW, paddle clubs, the Nepean Blue Mountains Prostate Support Group and a hundred other individuals support the event.
Not including START and FINISH, we had 8 land-based checkpoints and 8 checkpoints aboard vessels. These vessels were in the main, crewed by either NSW SES or Marine Rescue NSW (Hawkesbury). Mark Cooper and his team of volunteers very kindly looked after Checkpoint J aboard his vessel moored off Rosevale Caravan Park.
In addition to the checkpoints, the NSW SES and Marine Rescue (Hawkesbury) supplied a further 16 vessels to carry out search and rescue and to control the car ferry crossings at Sackville, Lower Portland, Webbs Creek and Wisemans Ferry.
In total, we had approx. 300 volunteers working throughout the weekend ensuring the smooth operation of the event and the safety of paddlers. Unseen by paddlers, we had communications centres located away from the river, operated by NSW SES and WICEN NSW.
GPS Trackers
Supplementing the human involvement in the event, we had GPS Trackers supplied by TrackMeLive and paid for by former HCC Event Coordinator / Race Control, Roger Deane. We are indebted to you Roger !!
The use of GPS tracking is a real “game-changer” for events such as ours. Apart from the obvious safety aspects of the trackers, it was reported that family and friends of the paddlers followed the event on their electronic devices in Sweden, the UK, Spain and the USA.
Even when a couple of paddlers decided to take a scenic trip up the Macdonald River and Mangrove Creek we could see them and sent a chase boat to turn them around. Added to tracking of the paddlers themselves, our safety network knew exactly where Safety Control, Mark O'Hara and I were at all times throughout the night.
Safety Issues
Two concerning safety matters were reported to Mark O’Hara, as Safety Control, and to me as Race Control.
The first revolved around ski boats ignoring the Marine Order advising that the river was closed between Macquarie Park, Freemans Reach and Ulinbawn Ski Park, Sackville North between the hours of 3.00pm and 9.00pm. Added to that they totally ignored the instructions of the NSW SES safety vessels. All this despite the fact that a Maritime vessel was patrolling the area.
The second matter is of major concern and involved a kayak capsizing when the paddler ventured too close to the Wisemans Ferry vehicular ferry and became entangled under the ferry ramp. The ferry was stationary, with its orange flashing light extinguished, on the Wisemans Ferry township side of the river.
I have received a report from the paddler concerned and I am awaiting a report from the NSW SES unit on duty at the car ferry crossing. If there are other paddlers who may have witnessed the incident please contact me on M : 0418863950
At each of the car ferry crossings we deploy two orange buoys, to which is attached a flashing blue strobe visible for more than 2km. These buoys form a “gate” through which all paddlers must pass and then proceed across the ferry cables only when a) the orange flashing light on the ferry is extinguished and b) with the approval of the NSW SES crew on duty.
The crew aboard the car ferry reacted immediately, as did the NSW SES vessel in the area.
The paddler of the capsized kayak was assisted by the ferry Master and crew, made it to shore and having emptied out the kayak, continued to the FINISH
The car ferry operators, Birdon Group, and the NSW SES crews are to be commended on the quick and efficient response to the situation.
A Safety Checkpoint de-brief will be held on this Thursday night with all checkpoint leaders in attendance.
This year’s event was sanctioned by Paddle Australia and we thank them for their support and that of PNSW
The future
It is obvious that an event such as the 111km Hawkesbury Classic is not sustainable with 107 paddlers taking part. We cannot expect the support of 300 volunteers with that number of participants and a proportionally reduced amount of fundraising.
These volunteers give up their weekend for you to paddle the Hawkesbury but the main reason they are there is because you are raising funds for medically based charities.
There will be a lot of soul-searching happening in the coming weeks but we are open to all suggestions. We need people to "walk the walk" not just "talk the talk".
We all love the Hawkesbury Classic...let's make sure it continues
Thanks for being a part of a brilliant weekend.
We will do a separate "thank you" message in the coming days listing all the organisations and volunteers who support you.
All the best,
Kent Heazlett
Event Coordinator / Race Control
On behalf of the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic Association Inc.
M : 0418863950